The government of the city of Madrid have reportedly said on Monday that they shall demand the return of €18.4m from Real Madrid.
Spanish publication AS have reported on Monday that the government in the city of Madrid have said they shall demand the additional compensation received by Real Madrid in a land deal. The report added that the Spanish giants have been already ordered to pay €18.4m by the European commission.
The local government released a statement regarding the matter on Monday and said,“The city hall will establish the measures necessary to carry out the decision of the European Commission to recover the aid of 18.4 million euros granted to Real Madrid.”
The government also revealed that the city hall had also been given a two-month period by Brussels to recover the amount along with the accrued interest which is slated to expire at the start of September and that the government’s power to recoup the state aid shall be lost.
The European commission had stated in July that they found Real Madrid, Barcelona and certain other clubs to have received ‘unfair advantage’ in terms of land deals, which were found to be overpriced.
Real Madrid’s case goes long back to 1998 when Los Blancos agreed to sell a plot of land to the city’s government with transaction ultimately falling through before completion. The Spanish giants received a fee of €22.7m from the government as compensation for failure to complete their part of the contract and execute the purchase of the plot of land which was valued at €595,000 during the time.
The commission’s investigation revealed that Real Madrid were entitled to receive a compensation of only €4.3m, thereby wrongly vesting an additional €18.4m of government’s money in their own hands.
It would be interesting to see whether the city government are able to recoup the amount as AS have also reported that Real Madrid have already signaled their intention to appeal against the European commission’s ruling and put the case at the doorstep of the European Court of Justice.
